The book was fraudulently published as a memoir telling the supposed true story of how the author survived the Holocaust as a young Jewish girl, wandering Europe searching for her deported parents.

Her real name was Monique de Wael; while her parents had been taken away by the Nazis, they were not Jews but Roman Catholic members of the Belgian Resistance, and she did not leave her home during the war, as the book claims.

De Wael says that with the exception of her grandfather, those who took her in treated her badly, including calling her "the traitor's daughter" because her father was suspected of having given information under torture in St. Gilles prison.

Before their deportation, her parents placed her with a Roman Catholic family, who give her the pseudonym Monique de Wael (the author's real name).

When this family treats her cruelly, Misha goes off in search of her parents, walking through Europe and living by stealing food, clothing and shoes.

Before the war is over, the character has taken human life to survive, stabbing to death with a pocket knife a rapist Nazi soldier who attacks her.

Ivy Press, heard of Misha's dramatic and supposedly true story, she signed Defonseca to write a memoir of her experiences, with Vera Lee, a friend of Daniel's, as co-writer.

The book was published in April 1997, and sold only around 5,000 copies in the United States, but was optioned for a film by The Walt Disney Company.

"[9] Even Defonseca's co-author Lee had doubts, leading her to consult Facing History and Ourselves, a nonprofit educational organization which helps to guide how the Holocaust is studied in schools.

According to Lee, when the organization's representative told her that the story she was describing was impossible, she tried to bring her concerns to Daniel, only to be rebuffed.

[6] In August 2007, Daniel began a blog titled "Best-Seller", telling the story of how the book came to be published, and attracted attention from Sharon Sergeant, a genealogist.

[2] Misha and the Wolves is a 2021 documentary film written and directed by Sam Hobkinson that examines the memoir and its exposure as a fraudulent narrative.